England is a fanciful, blunt, obstinate former pirate who used to torment Spain. In modern times he claims to be a gentleman; however he is cynical, sharp-tongued, prone to rough speech, and yearns for the golden years. He often uses British vocabulary, such as 'bloody' and 'git'. He is noted for being horrible at cooking which has caused America, his former charge, to have "bad" taste in food. England is also, apparently, the "king of losing things", and France has described him as "somehow extremely useless when it comes to matters not pertaining to himself or America". He can be described as "spacey" because of his strong belief in magic, spirits, fairies, and other fantasy creatures. He has the ability to perform magic, such as spells and curses, and can also summon demons and other magical creatures. He is able to communicate with supernatural beings, and is not limited to creatures from his homeland, being able to interact with youkai and spirits from Japanese folklore. He also happens to have fantasy friends, such as a flying bunny, unicorns, fairies, gnomes, and Captain Hook, but oddly enough he did not believe in Santa Claus until Finland came and brought them presents. Despite this, England often ridicules America's belief in aliens and Tony. According to the author's notes, England's interests include embroidery, craftsmanship, literature, rock music, and giving scathing criticisms to America's movies. He appears to be sharp-witted and surprisingly creative, although he seems to have rather bad luck. According to the author, he is rarely afraid of anything, and is rather interested in ghost stories, especially if he can use them to startle America. He also seems to be very stubborn and strong-willed, and does not easily succumb to stress or pressure. He is shown to be startlingly mature at times, and is very friendly with young or cute people and magical creatures. He also has a quite strong sense of responsibility, and has been seen scolding France and America when they don't take things seriously. In some recent notes, the author has stated that England has a very rich and unlimited personality, and that he can't decide whether England is a serious person or not.
Because of his status as an island nation, England is pretty distant and prefers to work alone. Perhaps because of this, he does not know how to express himself, leading to others often misunderstanding him. He is also depicted as being self-deprecating or tsundere. For example, despite his generally harsh behaviour, he is definitely stated to have a softer side, and seems to genuinely care for other nations. This is illustrated by the fact that he likes giving them advice, yet specifically mentions that he "does not do it because he's worried about them". Despite all this, he highly values his country's pride, and sometimes comes over as very arrogant. Despite his cynical, realistic view on the world, he is said to be a "quite a romanticist before he goes to sleep." When drunk, he suddenly becomes very nostalgic, and the next morning, he'll pretend that nothing has happened. Also, every year when the Fourth of July comes around, his condition collapses.
According to a blog post, the island nation and former pirate may not be able to swim. This would be a reference to English people in movies, and possibly to that, historically, many pirates could not swim.